Economist advocated government spending as a countervailing force in the economy

9:30 PM,
Oct. 14, 2013

Author and economist John Kenneth Galbraith served as an adviser to several Democratic presidents.

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"Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof."

For the past 30 years, the writings and advice of author and economist John Kenneth Galbraith have been at the center of American political controversy. In many respects, the standoff in Washington this month can be laid at his feet for his advocacy during the Democratic administrations of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson that government should act as a countervailing power against the rise of corporation, and his view that ...